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NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH R. HEBAUS, OF BUTTE, MONTANA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO FREDERICKP. CONROY, OF SAME PLACE.

APPARATUS FOR EXTRACTING PRECIOUS METALS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 603,904, dated May 10,1898. Application filed May 21 1897. Serial No. 637,509. N m l-l T aZZwhom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOSEPH R. HEBAUS, of Butte, in the county of SilverBow and State of Montana, have invented a new and Improved Apparatus forExtracting Precious Metals, of which the following is a full, clear, andexact description.

This invention relates to an apparatus for extracting preciousmetalssuch, for instance, as gold and silverfrom ores, tail ings, andother compounds; and the object is particularly the extraction of goldand silver from sulfid ores carrying gold or silver in the metallicstate or as sulfids, hematite carrying a proportion of precious metals,and also in general oxid ores of the base'metals such as iron, copper,lead, and zincwhich contain an admixture of gold or silver, or both.

The invention consists in the construction and combination of thevarious parts and details, as will be fully described hereinafter, anddefined in the appended claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawing, forming a part ofthis specification, in which the figure represents a vertical section ofan apparatus by means of which my process may be carried out.

Referring to the drawing, 1 designates a tank of any desiredconstruction and open at its top. This tank has a lining 2, ofamalgamated copper, which constitutes the cathode. Within the tankagitators are arranged. These agitators consist of shafts 3 4, havingdisks or arms 5 6 at the lower end, of insulating material-such, forinstance, as hard rubber or metal covered with rubber. The object inmaking the arms or disks of insulating material is to obviate anypossibility of short-circuiting should the agitators by some accident orbridging form a connection with the bottom of the tank. Suchshort-circuiting would cause the destruction of both the anode andcathode and possibly the whole machine. Extended radially from the shaftare arms 7, consisting of iron or similar metal, and these arms willconstitute the anode. The shaft 3 is provided at its upper end with apinion 8, and the shaft 4 is provided at its upper end with a pinion 9.These pinions 8 and 9 engage with a gear-wheel 10, mounted on a shaft11, having bearings in a frame 12, mountedon the tank. Secured to theshaft 11 is a bevel-gear 13, meshing with .a bevelpinion 14 on adriving-shaft 15, to which a drive-wheel 16 is attached. The shafts 3and 4 have bearing at their upper ends in a bar 9", mounted to turn onthe lower end of the shaft 11, so that the agitators will not onlyrevolve on their own axes, but will travel around the tank to thoroughlystir the contents of the tank.

The cathode or amalgamated copper lining 2 is attached to a source ofelectricity, here shown as a battery 17, by means of which a wire 18 andthe anodes consisting of the shafts 3 and 4 and. the arms thereon areconnected to said source of electricity by awire 19. As before stated, Iemploy an electric current of very low tension; but I increase thesurface of the anode and cathode to as largean extent as possible, andthus I am enabled to deposit the precious metals as soon as they aredissolved upon the cathode, where the metal may be recovered as anamalgam.

In the operation of my invention I charge the tank with the requiredquantity of water and set the agitators in rotary motion. I thengradually introduce the ore, which should be pulverized, and I graduallyintroduce salt, caustic soda, lime, or other alkaline earths untillitmus-paper turns blue by testing the whole mass. The lime, salt, andcaustic soda cannot be used in equal proportions. Ores which carry butlittle silver do not require salt. Ores which carry silver in quantityrequire one pound of salt to the ounce of silver. In proportion to onepound of caustic soda I use sixteen pounds of lime. I dissolve salt,caustic soda, and lime in water in the proportions stated above. Onlycaustic soda and lime are necessary for alkalinity. Now the charge isready to receive the chemical solution, which consists of fromone-fourth to three-fourths per cent. of cyanid of potassium or othercyanogen-yielding substances. At the time the chemical solution isintroduced the electric current must be turned on. Diluted bromin andsodium dioxid are added during the operation, care being taken to havethe potassium cyanid in excess and not to add the bromin and sodiumdioxid faster than the cyanogen is set free. In this manner my processbecomes a continuous one of dissolving the precious metals from the ore,immediately .through the valve-controlled outlet 20. This ore andsolution will be drawn off into another vat, where it may settle, andafter it shall have sufficiently settled the solution may be removedfrom the vessel and used over again with the addition, if necessary, ofa new supply of cyanid of potassium.

The advantage in treating ores and tailings with cyanid of potassium,bromin, and sodium dioxid, in conjunction with an electric current, liesin the fact that the precious metals are attacked more energetically inconjunction with a current of electricity than without one. The gold andsilver contents in tailings from an amalgamation process are mostlycoated with amalgam, and no solution of cyanid of potash is able topenetrate this amalgam in order to bring out the gold; but electricityin connection with the cyanid of potash will cause the dissolving andprecipitation of the gold or silver, and, further, the electricalcurrent saves cyanid of potash,

which Would be destroyed by zinc precipitation.

In case I have to deal with free-milling ore I cover the bottom of thetank with mercury, but do not require said mercury with base compounds.

I am aware that cyanid of potassium, bromin, and sodium dioxid, inconjunction with an electric current, have been used for the extractionof gold and silver from ores, and such I do not claim.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent- 1. An apparatus for extracting precious metals fromtheir ores comprising a tank having an amalgamated copper liningforminga cathode and a multiplicity of agitators each rotating on itsown axis and at the same time traveling around the tank, the saidagitators forming an anode, and an electric circuit, sub stantially asspecified.

2. The tank having a conducting-plate adapted to form a cathode, arotatable frame, I

